IV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



M 



ay, 19 1 3 



I 



A Practical Demonstration 



The photograph reproduced here shows Twenty Carloads 



of Coldwell Combination Rollers and Motor Lawn Mowers in 

 the Company's factory at Newburgh, New York — sold and wait- 

 ing shipment. 



This represents only a part of what the Coldwell Company has manu- 

 factured and sold this year. 



In the parks of Greater New York alone there are today more than 

 20 of these Mowers. There are 6 in the Cleveland, O., parks ; 4 on 

 the Capitol grounds in Washington, D. C. 



Throughout the country at large there are more than 1 ,000 in use. 

 Still others are being shipped to England, South America, the Philippines, 

 Australia, India — all over the world. 



There could be no better proof of the worth and the quality of the 

 Coldwell Combination Roller and Motor Lawn Mower. 



For use on large stretches of turf, it is the best and most economical 

 machine ever made. 



A catalogue of the complete 

 Coldwell line, horse and hand, as 

 well as motor mowers — 150 

 different styles and sizes - will 

 be sent prepaid on request, to- 

 gether with practical booklet on 

 The Care of Lawns. It will pay 

 you to write today. 



"Always Use the BEST. The BEST is the Cheapest. Coldwell 

 Lawn Mowers are the BEST." 



COLDWELL LAWN MOWER COMPANY 



Demount- 

 able — Cutter 

 Horse Mower 



Philadelphia 



NEWBURGH, NEW YORK 



Chicago 





HOMES • OF 

 CHARACTER- 



19l3-"HOMES OF CHARACTER"-Edition 



The most complete book for homebuilders ever published, 128 New House 

 Designs. (Cost to build $500 to $15,000.) 354 Illustrations of Interiors, Ex- 

 teriors and Furnishings. 11 Color Plates of Interiors. 150 Pages of Articles 

 on how to Finance, Plan, Build and Equip your new home. 320 Pages, bound 

 in cloth with art cover. Sent prepaid for $1 .00. Sample pages 2c. stamp. 



JOHN HENRY NEWSON, (Inc.), Architect 

 1031 Williamson Building Cleveland, Ohio 



Plant for Immediate Effect 



Not for Future Generations 



Start with the largest stock that can be secured ! It takes many years to 



grow such Trees and Shrubs as we offer. 

 We do the long waiting — thus enabling you to secure Trees and Shrubs that 



give an immediate effect. Price List gives complete information. 



ANDORRA NURSERIES 



WM. WARNER HARPER, Proprietor 



Box 



N 



CHESTNUT HILL 

 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



LAWN SOILS AND LAWNS 



THIS season of the year, when the resi- 

 dents of the cities and suburbs are look- 

 ing at their lawns with a view of repairing 

 them for the Summer months, it is well to 

 examine the soil to a depth of from twelve 

 to twenty four inches to see if there are 

 any bricks, tin cans, boards and other 

 coarse building debris. The Bureau of 

 Soils, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, says in a Farmers' Bulletin that the 

 reason that grass does not thrive well on 

 the average city lawn is that the majority 

 of them have a filler of this kind of rubbish 

 and of course grass will not grow on such 

 infertile material. 



"A lawn is the accompaniment of every 

 effort on the part of man to beautify the 

 surroundings of his abiding place," says the 

 Bulletin. "The great increase of interest 

 in suburban and rural life has caused a cor- 

 responding increase of interest in matters 

 pertaining to the making and maintenance 

 of lawns. Suburban railways, the exten- 

 sion of electric lines into the country, and 

 the return of man to natural ways of living 

 are all factors contributing to the growing 

 interest in matters pertaining to lawn mak- 

 ing. 



"In general a lawn should be beautiful 

 and it should be useful. Its beauty depends 

 upon the contour of the land, the color 

 and texture of the grass and the uniformity 

 of the turf. The use of the lawn is to 

 provide a suitable setting for architectural 

 adornment and landscape planting. Every 

 device should be employed when working 

 with small areas of ground to give the 

 lawn as great extent as possible. The build- 

 ings should be well back, the foundation not 

 too high and the grading of the ground 

 should be slightly convex — that is, a gently 

 convex, rolling surface from the base of 

 the foundation to the street line, rather 

 than concave. 



"Bricks, flat tins, boards and other coarse 

 building debris found in nearly all small 

 lawns in the city are very detrimental to 

 the proper movement of soil fluid. The 

 downward movement of water is not seri- 

 ously impeded by such materials and is 

 probably facilitated. The moisture moves 

 downward until it encounters a brick, for 

 instance, at a distance of three or four 

 inches below the soil level. The water 

 meets with no difficulty in getting to the 

 edge of the brick and then goes nearly 

 straight downward, thus leaving the soil 

 immediately below the brick unsupplied 

 from this new water influx. Now, when 

 the opposite movement of soil fluid begins, 

 the water moves upward until it encounters 

 the brick, and the soil immediately above 

 the brick, which has in the meantime dried 

 out, remains unsupplied with moisture, so 

 that the grass suffers and dries out during 

 a critical dry spell. Bad spots in small city 

 lawns are more often than not found to 

 be due to some such impediment to the 

 movement of capillary water. 



"A lawn soil should have a good supply 

 of moisture at all times. It should be able 

 to take care of excess during the wet season 

 by drainage and during the dry season be 

 able to supply stored up moisture from its 

 depths. This adequate water supply is the 

 principal factor in grass growth and the 

 one most difficult to control in a poor soil. 

 It is more important than any added fer- 

 tilizer and cannot be compensated for bv the 

 addition of any amount or kind of chemical 

 plant food. All suggestions regarding lawn 

 soils, their texture, selection and manipula- 

 tion have been made with one end in view — 

 the creating and maintaining of an adequate 

 water supply in as natural a manner as pos- 

 sible. If this water supply is maintained 



